Carl Burleson’s scientific contributions

Over the last thirty years, the number of people affected by aircraft noise has decreased while air travel has grown dramatically. Despite this success, environmental issues, both noise and emissions, may become the key constraint on future air transportation expansion. As part of the Next Generation Air Transportation System Plan, the goal is for environmental protection that allows for sustained aviation growth. This includes reductions, in absolute terms, of community noise and local air quality emissions from aviation that significantly impact human health and welfare. Achieving these goals will require a multi-pronged approach that combines source reduction technology, operational abatement procedures, intelligent land use planning, and airport and aircraft operating restrictions. Given the interdependencies of impacts, there is a need to move from stand-alone models to an integrated tool set that allows understanding of the interactions between noise, air quality, economic costs and benefits. Such models would enable more effective evaluation of proposed air transportation system changes and allow communities and decision-makers better information to reach decisions on the proposed changes. FAA has initiated a multi-year, multi-million dollar effort to develop these models and improved capabilities and decision-making that will aid in tackling the enviornnmental challenges of aviation growth.